As cell phones and pagers become more of a necessity than a luxury, Natchezians should expect more communication towers dotting the horizon.

Since the city adopted an ordinance regulating communication towers in 1998, the Natchez Zoning Board of Adjustment has granted only two special use permits, City Planner David Preziosi said. But, the zoning board just heard two requests this month, and Preziosi said two more are scheduled for next month’s agenda. &uot;We’re going to be seeing a lot more applications because of the rise in use of cell phones,&uot; he said.

While the city must require certain restrictions to prevent &uot;a preponderance of towers,&uot; Preziosi said, he also sees the towers as &uot;necessary evils.&uot;

&uot;If people want cell phones, they’re going to have to have the equipment that goes with them,&uot; he said. &uot;Just like if people want electricity, they are going to have to have electrical wires running overhead.&uot;

Applicants wishing to erect a tower within properties zoned for industrial, general business or neighborhood business use are not required to go before the zoning board unless the tower exceeds height restrictions.

Towers may not be taller than one foot for each two feet the tower is set back from residential property, for a maximum height of 200 feet.

&uot;So really, whatever your tower is, it should be double that distance from a residentially-zoned property,&uot; Preziosi said. A 100-foot tower would have to be 200 feet from the boundary of a residentially-zoned area, he said.

Towers erected on existing structures, like a building, may not add more than 20 feet to the height of the original tower without permission of the zoning board. Such a tower stands atop Natchez Regional Medical Center, but many say it is insufficient to handle the load from doctor’s cell phones and pagers.

In considering special use permits for towers, the zoning board uses several criteria, including the tower’s height, its proximity to residential structures and boundaries, technical or engineering requirements that limit placement of the tower in another area, the nature of use of surrounding properties, surrounding topography design of the tower and availability of suitable existing towers.

The most common complaints against the towers deal with aesthetics and property values, Preziosi said.

Understandably, homeowners like Billy &uot;Butch&uot; McEwen, living on the edge of residential zones, say they do not want to walk out on their back porch and see a 200-foot metal structure.

Others believe a tower near their homes will lower the value of their property, making it difficult to resell.

Safety is also a reoccurring concern, but fears that towers will topple are unwarranted, Preziosi said.

&uot;Most of the towers are designed so they fall into themselves,&uot; Preziosi said.

Structural engineers of the towers also designed them in such a way that only a &uot;major catastrophe&uot; would cause the tower to collapse, Preziosi said, and such an event would severely damage nearby structures anyway.

The zoning board tabled both applications submitted by Vanguard Towers LLC Tuesday until it can consult with members of the Natchez Planning Commission. The proposed site of one tower is on Jefferson Davis Boulevard, on land owned by Dr. Arnold Feldman.